


100 Drabble Challenge-The Doctor and His Rose

by BadWolfGirl01



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 100 Drabble Challenge, Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, Drabble, F/M, Introspection, Matchmaker TARDIS, Meddling/Sentient TARDIS, Post Bad Wolf Bay, Reunions, Rivalry, Rose and River Song, Steven Moffat Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-06-10 03:25:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6937768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolfGirl01/pseuds/BadWolfGirl01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Summary updated as of drabble 11* *Name changed slightly* </p><p>This is a 100 drabble challenge I'm doing with a couple other writers; my goal is all 100 will be right around 100 words and will tell a unified story. Starts out introspection-y, with Eleven pondering his relationships with Rose and River; around drabble 5 the plot begins. This has a bit of Eleven/River in it, but not very much. Reunion, because apparently everything I write needs either angst over separation or a good reunion in it.</p><p>Bad Wolf!Rose, changed timelines, meddling TARDIS... all the usual.</p><p>*Chapter titles are the prompts each drabble is written for*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

As far as introductions went, ‘mad man in a box’ wasn’t too bad, he thought. It did have a certain… style, one that fit this new body just like—oh, better not go there. Just like bow ties. Yes, that’s a much better comparison. Because bow ties are cool.

It seemed he still had a gob, even when thinking. Not like his Ninth body—“Run” and “I’m the Doctor” had been all he’d needed then.

Or maybe that was because of Rose Tyler. 

Now there was an amazing human. How did one even begin to introduce the woman who stole one’s hearts?


	2. Complicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see this as set after "Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" but there's no real after episode order. Doesn't matter to the story.

_Complicated._

He’d never understood why teenage human females were so inordinately fond of using that word to describe a relationship status until Rose came along. Always toeing the line between best friends and more-than-friends, hugging longer than was strictly necessary, flirting and innuendo, holding hands, but never more. So different from River.

Now River, that was complicated as well, but timey-wimey complicated. He liked her, genuinely, but couldn’t see himself marrying her. Now if only he’d get his second—third—fourth? chance with Rose… but that wouldn’t ever happen. 

He sighed. River, focus on River. Rose was gone, never coming back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not going to devolve into Eleven/River, I promise. While I'm dabbling in it, this is strictly Doctor/Rose.


	3. Making History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I say it won't devolve into Eleven/River, that means that I'm gonna have mainly Doctor/Rose, but there's gonna be Eleven/River in here. Just wont be all that.

_Rose Tyler, you are going to make history as the most jeopardy-friendly human to travel with me if you keep getting into trouble._

River was not jeopardy-friendly. River went looking for trouble, and therein lay the difference between River and Rose. Well, the main difference. Rose was a trouble magnet, to be sure—an added benefit of that was more opportunity to sweep in and rescue her—but she didn’t actively seek it out.

River, though—River _loved_ trouble, and went looking for it. Often. Or had looked for it, or would look for it... there weren’t tenses in English to describe their relationship.

How could you make history with someone whose history was your future?


	4. Rivalry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty Eleven/River shippy, but this is the worst it'll get for those who don't like it. Sorry for the delay in posting.

It was the youngest version of her he’d met.

She’d left suddenly, activating the Vortex Manipulator he had yet to give her and disappearing in a flash of light. Just before, she’d cried out, “You don’t see me, you never see me! You just see her!”

No, he wanted to tell her. River, I always see you. She was home, and warmth, and forgiveness, absolution, and love, always love. You are danger, and excitement, recklessness and love, always love. 

But he couldn’t tell her, and he didn’t know when he’d see that her again.

All he could do was be haunted by her last words:

_How can I compete with a memory?_


	5. Unbreakable

River closed her eyes, sighing. The Doctor had sent her to the Library without a care in the world, not even a tear in his eye. No, his eyes had been entirely for the other blonde, the one curled against him with her head on his shoulder. She hadn’t seen him and his Rose so close before… but even now, the timeline was still changing, and she could remember him and Rose, when Rose was a friend.

She could also still remember the intimacy, the love, they’d shared, and had a memory of what their last night was supposed to be like, a 24-year-long night on Darillium. 

But she was strong. The Doctor was happy in this new timeline, and that was what mattered. She would not let his happiness break her.


	6. Obsession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part of the series, but it'll be unclear at first how it fits in.

They say she’s obsessed.

She thinks they can go to hell.

She’s even got the power to send them there, to their own personal hells. It’s easy, when you’re a goddess of Time.

No one connects Liana Wolfe, the scientist prodding the Rift incessantly, searching for a crack in the Void, with Rose Tyler, Vitex CEO and Director of Torchwood One. Well, Jackie and Pete might’ve, but they were the only ones who knew about Rose and James’s choice of names for the daughter they’d nearly had.

Pete and Jackie are long dead, anyway. Same with James.

It’s not an obsession. It’s survival.


	7. Eternity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continues directly from the previous.

She saw it all: from the beginning of Time, to its last breath, every possible iteration of the thousand-billion seconds of the universe. She saw Bad Wolf Bay, and so tweaked a timeline, that she’d have Jackie, Pete, and Mickey with her. Saw the Medusa Cascade, saw her spending a short human forever with the Time Lord, so tweaked another timeline and the human Doctor came into existence, giving her time to discover her DNA’s changes. 

Then she saw herself and a man with floppy hair, and she knew what she needed to do.  
There’s no arguing with eternity.


	8. Gateway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continues from previous. Now we see how this begins to tie in.

There must be a gateway to the universe of her birth, she knows. She remembers that one exists; one of the flashes of memory that returned with her first death. 

If only she could find it.

It takes her three hundred years to find the crack and build a contraption to stabilize it, but she finally does. 

By this time, she’s all alone, not even living on Earth, as there’s no one left.

 _Four hundred years old and as reckless as a teenager_ , she thinks with amusement, just before stepping into the crack. _Oh, well. Allons-y!_


	9. Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of backstory... continues directly from previous.

Pain.

It screams through her, white-hot, lighting up every nerve ending with searing fire. She feels the blackness coming, welcomes it, welcomes death.

Waits for the pain to cease.

She remembers the first time. She’d been old, grey and wrinkled, shriveled, hating every breath. Her Doctor had died years before; some sort of temporal distortion disturbed the stability of the metacrisis, and he burned.

Burned like she burns now.

She had finally faded out, the blackness falling over her, only to awaken in a golden mist, everything new, slightly changed…

This body hadn’t aged a single second since that moment.

 _I liked this one_ , she realizes, as death comes, and with it, the golden fires.

Her last thoughts are pleading with the universe to let the Doctor recognize her.


	10. Opportunities

Cardiff.

Not exactly what she’d expected, but it was home enough.

The first thing she did was find a mirror; a nearby car was perfect. She smiled at the side mirror.

Honey blonde hair, golden eyes (not glowing as of the moment)… _not bad._

Maybe she could visit Jack, while she was here. A quick scan of the timelines, however revealed that Jack had left a while ago… something had happened with the children? The past timelines were cloudy. But the fixed point-hardness was gone.

Suddenly, Rose felt a humming in the back of her mind, tugging on her.

_Sexy?!_


	11. 33%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It all comes together now.
> 
> Thinking I should probably update tags/summary, since this has completely morphed into its own thing?

He was rather upset. He’d just picked the Ponds up for the first time in 50 years (well, it’d only been three months for them), and his ship had suddenly gone from functioning perfectly normally to running on 33% power. Frowning, the Doctor began to type on the scanner; a great lurch interrupted him, forcing him to grab hold.

The time rotor began to rise and fall, levers pulling, dials twirling, the rebellious ship flying herself. Amy and Rory sprinted into the console room; upon seeing his utterly confused face, they grabbed on for the ride.

The ship landed with a heavy thud, the noise reverberating around the console room, and the doors swung open imperiously. The Doctor stepped cautiously outside, closely followed by his companions.

He froze.

_“Rose?”_


End file.
